Australian Car Advice | News Blog

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Not to be completely disappointed, Indy will make way for a motor racing carnival featuring V8 Supercars and the A1 Grand Prix series.

You can read more about the A1 Grand Prix here.

“The A1GP is a world-class racing series with an action packed race calendar that includes Great Britain, China, Mexico, Portugal, Malaysia, New Zealand, Indonesia, South Africa and The Netherlands, as a result of this deal Queensland will now be a permanent fixture on the calendar as well.” Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said

Do you prefer the Indy or the A1 GP?

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Toyota Australia motorsport manager Todd Connolly said Aussie Racing Cars are an exciting category that offer thrilling wheel-to-wheel racing.

“We’re really pleased to join such a competitive, popular and entertaining series,” he said. “Toyota sees it as an ideal grass-roots category for young drivers to learn and make their way up the ladder in motor sport.”

The 450kg Aussie Racing Cars have identical mechanical specification to ensure close competition and to put the emphasis on driver skill. They have a moulded body (a caricature of the vehicle on which it is based), a space-frame chassis and 1.2-litre Yamaha engine that delivers 91kW at 11,500rpm.

Todd Connolly identified two synergies with the new TRD Aurion Aussie Racing Cars and Toyota.

“Yamaha has been a Toyota technical partner for the last four decades and developed the latest Corolla dual-VVT-i-equipped engine,” he said. “CATIA, who sponsor our Formula One team and Australian rally team, provided the software to design the TRD Aurion look-alike body for the four new cars.”

The first TRD Aurion Aussie Racing Car to hit the circuit has been nominated as a “guest” car that will feature different motor sport personalities at each event. It is finished in the same livery as TRD’s 2008 Targa Tasmania class-winning TRD Aurion.

Race commentator and V8 race driver Neil Crompton will debut this car at Surfer’s Paradise, with an added exterior feature. The car will have its roof painted as a bandanna to support CanTeen’s October 31 National Bandanna Day for young people living with cancer.

Todd Connolly said he hopes the car’s appearance at the Nikon Indy 300 event would help raise awareness of CanTeen’s largest annual fund-raising day, when it aimed to sell one million bandannas. There will be a hospitality area at the circuit for CanTeen families from South-East Queensland.

Indy gets under way this Thursday with further information available at www.indy.com.au

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48 per cent of respondents from New South Wales do not know how to travel through a multi-lane roundabout correctly. That number rises to 49 per cent for Queensland and gets worse at 58 per cent for Victoria and and a shameful 62 per cent in South Australia.

31 per cent of Victorians do not know who should give way at a T-intersection, compared to 21 per cent in NSW and 23 per cent in Queensland.

State vs State aside, what about male vs female? The survey found that 78 per cent of men overall knew who should give way at a T-intersection compared with 70 per cent of women.

“Perhaps this calls for a major rethink from our motoring bodies on how to curb these statistics, they may need to ask themselves whether there’s any value in making written tests compulsory for drivers every 10 years.” The insurance company’s general manager John Dujmovic said

We agree, although we would like to see a compulsory practical test every five years. What do you think the government needs to do to keep drivers aware of road rules.

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I’d like to call myself a fair-dinkum Aussie but this was going to be my first trip into proper ‘Outback OZ’. It’s absolutely shameful that I’ve driven cars all over the world but never once gone walkabout in my own backyard.

I urge all of you who are planning to eat snails in Paris or gnocchi in Rome, to pack up the family and head north, to one of the most incredible places on earth, outback Australia.

Colleague Paul Maric and the guys who had just completed the relatively short but tough going first leg from Birdsville to the Alice, said to pack for cold nights and hot days. Like any weather report, from any source, they’re only ever half right.

The vastness of this huge continent is magnified tenfold, when you’re on cruise control at 11,000 metres. Bone dry stretches of dead flat land, as far as the eye can see. It’s an absolute frontier, much the same way as Alaska is to the US.

It just looked hot down there. T-shirt weather for sure, maybe even shorts, I thought.

When the plane hit the deck at Alice Springs airport and the rear door opened up – it must have been all of 12 to 14 degrees, with a stiff breeze. The T-shirt thing wasn’t going to cut it here in the outback, not on this particular day, anyway.

There were only four of us who had signed up for this journey across the Tanami, so I figured there was no chance of being left behind in some secluded gorge or worse still, Wolfe Creek with a madman.

The itinerary supplied by the Land Rover PR department stated there would be four nights at various camp sites along the way, and that the single man G4 tents would be erected and waiting for us, after each day’s driving. To think I actually believed that!

I wanted to believe it too. Those torturous nights camping in the bush near Singleton during school cadet camps in water logged, one-man tents had put me right off the camping scene from that moment on. Hotel rooms, a stocked up bar fridge and spa bath is where I’m at these days.

Lunch was back at Voyages Alice Springs Resort where I was keen to try some crocodile, any way I could get it. No such luck, but fresh Barramundi spring rolls, hit the spot nicely.

Although we were not due to get under way until the following day, we saddled up in the Land Rover convoy (two highly visible G4 prepped Discovery TDV6, one Freelander 2, one Range Rover Sport TDV6, one Range Rover Vogue TDV8, one Defender 110 and one Defender 130 crew-cab with tray, and headed out to attack the sand dunes south of Alice Springs.

I was a little slow off the mark when we were told to grab a vehicle and ended up behind the wheel of Land Rover’s baby, the Freelander 2 with Camel Trophy guru and leading Land Rover dealer, big John Ayer, riding shotgun.

John has Land Rover running through his blood. He has been a dealer in Melbourne since 1972 and has vast four-wheel drive experience with his Camel Trophy expeditions to outback Australia, Madagascar, Sulawesi, Siberia, Guyana and too many other godforsaken places to list. He’s a regular Indiana Jones, just as handsome but not quite as slim as Harrison Ford, so I was in good hands.

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Leg 1 – Birdsville to Alice Springs

Day 1

The group of five journalists and several Land Rover crew, including Managing Director Roger Jory, weren’t sure what to expect of the flight from Brisbane to Birdsville.

Operated by Macair, our mode of transport was a Metro23, 19-seat twin-propeller plane. Located about 1600km west of Brisbane, Birdsville is a small town with a population of approximately 120. Birdsville’s population increases by more than 1000% during the famous Birdsville Races – held each year in September.

Our flight from Brisbane was on the mail run, so that meant making four stops along the way to Birdsville. This stretched the 1600km flight out to six and a half hours. Soon after leaving Brisbane airport, we arrived at a small town called Charleville. It wasn’t long before the mail was offloaded and we were back in the air.

Around an hour later, the second stop had us arriving at Quilpie. With a population of just 747, spread over a shire area of 67,842 square kilometres, there wasn’t all that much going on. After finally offloading mail, we jumped back into the plane, only to find the additional passenger and extra mail would mean a ‘wet takeoff’.

We were reassured that this was standard company procedure when extra weight was taken onboard. The only issue with this standard company procedure was that the plane refused to do the ‘wet takeoff’! We stumbled down a third of the runway before the takeoff was aborted. After trying two more times, we had to go back to the hanger for some bush mechanic style repairs.

After a quick fix, we were in business and on to our next stop – Windorah. We were greeted by some workers who were proud to show off the new building they had just installed at the airport, which included three toilets. It didn’t mean much to us city slickers, but it was a mighty achievement for them! It was back in the air for our final flight leg.

You can imagine our joint relief when we finally arrived to Birdsville.

Luckily the Birdsville Hotel was stocked full of beer and food, so after a bit of a refresh and cleanup, we met with the Land Rover support crew for dinner and drinks.

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As they say, money can’t buy taste.

But tell us - what’s your favourite automotive accessory?

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It was, to put in bluntly, a trap, as the offenders appeared in a local court that very day, many lost their licences instantly, nine of those disqualified got back in their cars and drove off. The men in blue were sitting outside the Richlands courthouse and all nine were quickly arrested for driving on a disqualified license!

According to QLD Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson, police traps, like the one mentioned, are a “fair tactic”. They remove risky drivers from our roads.

A current trial running in the state has already led to 866 cars driven by repeat unlicensed drivers impounded for good. Now the trial will extend to the whole state.

So how exactly do you get your car impounded? Drive on a disqualified license over and over again.

How do you get your car impounded and sold? Don’t pay the cost for impounding the car and owe the state government money in due loans or fines.

“These are people who generally have thousands of dollars owing to the state and are not paying off those fines, we decided that instead we would teach them a painful lesson and take their car off them from July 1.” Police Minister Judy Spence said in Brisbane.

The harsh tactics result from the increased possibility of disqualified drivers engaging in high-risk driving behaviour.

In 2003, 4.5 per cent of Queensland road fatalities involved disqualified drivers, last year that figure rose to 9.2 per cent.

Whilst I completely agree that disqualified drivers should give up driving, setting up enormous traps and sending motorists straight to court resulting in instant disqualifications does seem just a tad out of the ordinary, even for QLD police.

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In total 10 Honda Civic Hybrids have been delivered so far, with the ambition to reduce emissions for the entire government fleet by 15 per cent by the end of 2010, and by 50 per cent in 2017.

Premier Bligh also announced that by 2020, 100 per cent of the Government fleet emissions would be offset.

“The Queensland Government has an extensive fleet and the cars we buy are important as they not only end up in the government fleet but then in the community – so it is important we are selecting the best vehicles.” Premier Bligh said.

The Honda Civic Hybrid is Australia’s most affordable Hybrid at $32,990 and uses just 4.6 litres/100km on combined cycle.

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Despite the massive increase (and intensely advertised) number of speed cameras and police on QLD roads, the sunshine state has once again, recorded the worst toll for the nation.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has blamed speeding motorists, saying her government will review its road safety campaign with the potential for tougher penalties. QLD police have also expressed that they are at “wits end” with motorists’ behaviour.

“As a result of the continued speeding on our roads, and as a result of the continued drink driving on our roads, I’ll be talking with the Queensland Police Service and the minister for transport (John Mickel) about what else we can look at.” Premier Bligh said.

Unfortunately for Premier Bligh, she has missed the point. Last year QLD launched campaign 300, aimed at reducing the road toll below 300 for 2007. The operation involved substantially more speed cameras and RBTs.

The result? Not only did it fail, the road toll actually increased by almost 7 per cent (337 in 2006). The extra speed cameras have so far proven to be nothing more than a successful revenue-raising scheme.

What tends to concern us though, is that Premier Bligh has not even bothered to account for how the seven deaths occurred, opting to instead blame speeding without hesitation or merit.

Saturday saw a male pedestrian hit and killed by a vehicle at Craignish, north-west of Hervey Bay. That was followed by the deaths of a six-year-old girl and a one-year-old boy when the car they were in left the road, rolled and hit a tree at Murphys Creek, north of Toowoomba.

A teenager died when his motorcycle left the road and slammed into a tree. An elderly man died after a two car collision in the Brisbane suburb of Mansfield while a man in his 50s died when his motorbike collided with a cow about 10km outside Boulia, in the state’s west.

So, two motorcycle deaths, one caused by a cow, one pedestrian, two deaths in one car due to driver error and dark roads (Police did not blame speed as the primary cause), but it gets better, because according to QLD police the elderly man’s death could have been caused by a pre-existing medical condition!

What gets the blame? Speeding! Remember folks, if you can’t blame anyone else, blame speeding! At least that makes money.

When we said massive increase in speed cameras, we weren’t exaggerating, 14,731 QLD drivers were issued with speeding tickets during this holiday period, nearly twice as many as Easter in 2007. Almost 500 were caught drink driving.

What more can we say? Twice as many speeders caught, yet the road toll is higher? Perhaps, just perhaps, it’s not speeding?

Perhaps Premier Bligh should look into advanced driver training for all, compulsory re-licensing for older drivers, separate licenses for 4WD and high performance cars and focus the speed cameras on blackspots, not on straight roads.

Moving on from QLD, NSW Police issued just under 5000 speeding tickets, about 1/3 of QLD’s count, despite the state having a higher number of registered drivers. The number of speeding tickets also didn’t affect the state’s roads remaining fatality free.

It’s worth noting, however, that despite the minimal speeding tickets, 6780 NSW motorists were charged with other driving offence ranging from reckless driving, using a mobile phone while driving and not wearing a seatbelt.

The motorist which topped the state’s idiot list was a 23-year-old disqualified driver, who passed a speed camera at 160km/h coming off the Anzac Bridge.

Moving to Victoria, a mother and daughter were killed when their car slammed into the side of a passenger train today in yet another level crossing disaster for the state.

Police have confirmed that the vehicle was a four-wheel drive and the incident occurred at an unprotected country level crossing at Moriac, near Winchelsea (picture below).

The second worst state was Western Australia with 5 deaths. An eight-year-old and a 21-year-old died when the Holden Commodore sedan they were in turned in front of a Holden Rodeo - the Rodeo had right of way.

Despite wearing seatbelts, the 21-year-old woman and the eight-year-old boy were thrown from the Commodore and died of their injuries.

On Friday a woman was killed when her car slammed into a tree on the South-West Highway, 30km north of Walpole. Another women died in the State’s north, after she was thrown from her car as it rolled on a bend. Police believe she was not wearing a seatbelt at the time.

Going by the WA Police’s own press releases, excessive speed was not the primary factor in these deaths.

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These unfortunate souls that have perished on Australian roads this Easter period, have perished in vain. The State governments continue to deny the need for better driver training, while insisting, without merit, that excessive speed is the primary and root cause of the majority of accidents.

All we can ask is that you consider the facts and figures before blindly swallowing the Speed Kills propaganda. Sticking to 60km/h in a 60 zone does not guarantee your safety. If you want to improve your driving ability and lower your chances of being in a car accident, book yourself into an advanced driving course, it may just save your life.

Alborz Fallah

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With a fully documented history from new, this stunning GT-HO is one of just five examples built in Frosted Pewter metallic and with the options fitted from new (including a left-hand mirror and 8-track stereo) is a truly unique Phase III.

Better still for Phase III aficionados and collectors, the car is one of the 50 made with factory fitted close-ratio Top Loaders ( it’s a four-speed gearbox, kids) and a 3.50:1 31-spline Detroit Locker nine-inch rear end.

If you miss out on this GT-HO, the auction has a very attractive ‘consolation prize’ in the form of a nearly-as-rare brand new limited edition 2007 Falcon GT Cobra sedan.

One of just 400 built with the potent 302kW 5.4 litre V8 engine (tweaked by Ford Performance Vehicles) this GT Cobra has less than 50km on its odometer and is one of the hard-to-find and most desirable 6-speed manual cars.

Expecting to fetch between $85,000-$105,000, there’s already a strong interest with some very fierce bidding expected on the night. Anyone with a bulging wallet or keen eye for Aussie Muscle is encouraged to get along for a look.

Further details available through Shannons.

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